Earl Blumenauer: “earlier this year I had an opportunity to travel with a congressional delegation chaired by the gentleman from Nebraska…”

“earlier this year I had an opportunity to travel with a congressional delegation chaired by the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) to the island Nation of Indonesia. There we had an opportunity to meet with President Habibie, to meet in prison with Jose Alexandre Gusmao, who is likely to be the president of an independent East Timor, should that ever come to pass, as well as maybe of Indonesia's military leaders, people who appear to be sophisticated, many of whom are United States-educated. Again and again we heard of Indonesia's commitment to democracy and its determined effort to undo the damage done by the Asian financial crisis and its need for our support. The scheduling of an election on independence for East Timor was perceived as a positive sign. But over the last 8 months we have been watching those events unfold in East Timor, hoping for the best, but with a growing sense of apprehension. Last month's election results and the carnage that followed realized our worst fears. East Timor is in fact different from Indonesia's other areas of ethnic tension. Its history is different. It was ruled for hundreds of years by the Portuguese, not the Dutch. It is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, not Muslim, like most of Indonesia. The people of East Timor have done everything that the world community could have expected in seeking their independence.”